Just received ystrday my latest SommJournal, the 2'nd most vapid wine publication that I receive. The 1'st most is the sister publication, The Tasting Panel magazine. The two are loaded w/ pics of hot chicks & cool dudes, displaying a degree of hipness that a simple little ole country Computational Physicist from Kansas, still w/ cow$hit on his shoes, can never hope to achieve.
There was one article: "Phenolic Analysis: Proves PasoRoble's Bordeaux Potential". Again filled w/ pics of hot chicks/cool doods. Authored by Paul Hodgins (who he?). The article, written for air-headed hot chicks/cool dudes, of course proved no such thing.
But there was one interesting take-away from the article, which was probably wasted on the hot chicke/cool dudes crowd. Scot McLeod has a company called WineXRay:
WineXRay
that offers near-instant phenolic analysis of musts & wines, using UV spectrophotometry. Using their data, you can modify your winemaking, in process, to achieve the desired phenolics in your wine. It sounds a bit like LeoMcClosky's EnoLogix analysis that can be used guarantee a high score from WineSpec or Parker WA.
Anyway, as I was drooling over the pics of the hot-chicks, a couple of questions came to mind that the article came nowhere near answering:
1. Other than DanialDaou/DAOUVnyds, do any winemakers around here use WineXRay or their services??
2. What do these numbers on the various families of phenolic compounds tell you about how your wine tastes and of what value to your winemaking are these numbers??
or
3. Is WineXRay just the latest manifestations of the Venturi and CoraVin gimmicks??
Alas, the winemaking chemistry on the WineXRay site is way above my head.
Tom